Affordability, Purdue presence help keep Lafayette atop WSJ/Realtor.com housing index for 3rd consecutive quarter

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – As Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation continue to create and instigate opportunity in the area, Greater Lafayette remains attractive to would-be movers for its affordability.

It’s a match that is paying off for the local region. For the third consecutive quarter, Lafayette sits atop The Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Markets Index. In fact, Indiana cities occupy the top three spots in the second-quarter rankings, with Fort Wayne and Elkhart-Goshen following Lafayette.

According to the WSJ/Realtor.com story, the index identifies the most attractive metro areas for homebuyers seeking an appreciating housing market, a strong local economy and appealing lifestyle amenities. News Corp., parent company of the Journal, operates Realtor.com.

Purdue is the perfect community partner for that criteria. Discovery Park District at Purdue is a sprawling $1 billion mixed-use development of housing, high-end manufacturing, and industry and research-driven partnerships. The live-work-play community is for families, young professionals and retirees excited about living near a university community and the vibrancy of its culture.

The district includes the presence of such highly recognizable global companies as Saab and Rolls-Royce, along with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Wabash, MediaTek and others.

Purdue’s national leadership in the emerging U.S. semiconductor and microchip manufacturing fields could attract additional business to the region and provide good paying jobs.

The WSJ/Realtor.com story reports that the median home-sale price in Tippecanoe County, which includes Lafayette, was $292,000 in June, up 10.5% from a year earlier, according to the Indiana Association of Realtors. The national median existing-home sales price in June was $410,200.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities (Times Higher Education/Wall Street Journal and QS), with two colleges in the top 4 in the United States (U.S. News & World Report), Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, with 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 12 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap, including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business and Purdue Innovates, at https://stories.purdue.edu. 

Writer/Media contact: Jim Bush, jsbush@purdue.edu